


In The Town Where I Was Born

by Quaggy



Series: Nora Lyman [3]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: 100 word drabbles, F/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 23:52:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6775423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quaggy/pseuds/Quaggy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times that Donna overheard Josh sing in the shower. A set of five 100 word drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted July 5th, 2007, these drabbles can be separately or all together as one united fic. Each are exactly 100 words.

They’re grown men who will, with any luck, soon be running the country. So how come the words “black tie event” suddenly makes them so inept? Lord knows what they would have done if you hadn’t stopped by.  
  
You’d finally gotten Josh off the phone so he could shower and had just untangled the mess Sam made of his bow tie when ungodly sounds (which could be called singing, if they weren’t atonal) start echoing from the bathroom. You think you’re a little horrified.    
  
“Josh sings 'Yellow Submarine' when he’s in a good mood,” Sam shrugs, grinning at your discomfort.

 


	2. Weak

He’s so weak it scares you. He falls asleep without warning. Just standing tires him out, but he’s still insisting on taking a shower. His will remains strong as steel. He won’t wait for the nurse and you aren’t allowed in the bathroom with him. He can’t stop you from sitting outside the door, though. Just in case. 

At first, you think he’s talking to himself. You're wrong. His voice is too faint to be heard over the water, but the chorus of "Yellow Submarine" is made to be sung as loudly as possible. He’s off-key and he sounds wonderful.


	3. Break

You want to pummel them all with a baseball bat. Carrick. Congress. Even Leo. They all tried to break him just because they could. So Josh works harder. Stays longer. Because he won’t be the first to break. 

After three days of not going home, you force him to at least take a shower. You stand outside the door, like a prison guard. Even though you know that you can’t actually hear if he’s under the water, you press your ear against the door. . . and discover that he’s singing "Yellow Submarine". But you can tell his heart isn’t in it.


	4. Freedom

You can hear the shower running and Josh singing about yellow submarines. It’s like nothing has changed. Except everything has. You’re not his assistant anymore. You now can enter the bathroom while he’s in the shower. Even get under the water with him if you so choose. You don’t know what to make of this freedom.

He emerges with only a towel wrapped around his hips and flashes you a grin, before rummaging in his suitcase for something to wear. And suddenly it doesn’t seem so strange. This is who you are now. And who you’ve always wanted to be.


	5. Duet

Nora’s completely occupied with her dollhouse but she took the thirty minutes until bedtime warning with fairly good grace. Whether she will take the ten minute warning so well remains to be seen. Not wanting to borrow trouble, you head down the hall to see if Josh has succeeded in giving Aaron a bath without causing a flood.  
  
You can hear him singing from down the hallway. "Yellow Submarine", of course.  But tonight there’s something new. Aaron is singing along with his father, just as loud and just as off-key.  
  
You don’t think you’ve ever heard anything quite so lovely.  
 


End file.
